Schnauzer down! Pet emergency @ Sammy's =(

February 2nd, 2013, 01:22

So I'm driving home this morning from my expedition to Los Angeles, and my wife calls me, kinda freaking out. Our mini schnauzer Lucy is dragging her left rear leg behind her and whimpering. No traumatic event, no injury occurred, she just woke up from the evening's slumber and is suddenly lame and in apparent pain. I tell her to take her to Pet ER, and hit the gas pedal hard. A quick google search brings up horrible things, as well as horrible solutions.

Here we are 700$ and a normal Xray, normal bloodwork, and examination later with no definitive answers as to what's happened to Lu. She's laying here, whimpering, trembling, and drugged up on Tramadol (I'm feeling like I need to pop one too!). They pretty much told us to keep her on painkillers and hope for the best. To say the least, we are very distraught. Mind you I didnt even want a dog (much less a puppy), but my wife begged and pleaded until I bought her and soon enough she became a huge part of our lives. I cannot fathom life without Lucy trotting up to me every day when i come home, and at 3 years old I was sure this was not something we'd be thinking about for at least a decade.

Has anyone else dealt w/ this sort of circumstance before, a dog suddenly going lame for no reason? Me and her were bouncing around playing yesterday, I saw no indication or anything awry.

One possible explanation is fibrocartilaginous embolism. It seems unlikely, but ominously enough there's a pic of a mini schnauzer (which looks exactly like Lu) on that page…

Our dog (a labrador) gets lame about once a year. Starts with a bit of stiffness and soon he can't get up by himself, not even to pee. We were pretty freaked out the first time. The vet thinks it's some kind of autoimmune thing, but they could never really find out what was wrong with him. We don't even take him to the vet anymore now - we just give him Rimadyl (pain relief and antiinflammtory) for a few days, and he is as good as new.
Of course I can't know what yours has, but maybe this is an encouraging tale anyway. So give it a few days, I hope she gets better. Crazy how one gets attached to a dog, isn't it?

Yeah, i had no idea this little dog was going to mean so much to us. Every day she makes us laugh, no matter how crappy things get she's just pure love. There is no downside to Lucy, ever. Well, besides this..

But your story gives me a little hope that maybe this is just a fluke thing. Like i said, we were playing around pretty heavy yesterday jumping and running around, maybe it's some kind of soft tissue problem. But you'd think w/ that she'd just be limping, with her dragging it, she looks like a stroke victim. But she has feeling, just no motor control of the limb.

It looks like even if it's the worst-case and it's FCE, there's a good chance at recovery if we work with her on it and it's not too bad. We'll know in 24 hours.

Well, things have gone from bad to worse.
Now it is spread to her other leg, and were sitting in the pet ER. Who would have thought at three years old we would be making the decisions we are about this dog, it's very tough. They are going to do a doggy MRI!

My dog started limping on one leg and had his head turned to the side for some reason about a year and half ago. About a year before that he startd having seizures which was shocking to having to sit through. The seizures were likely due to his recent habit of chewing up any paper he found including rolls of toilet paper left ungaurded. It likely left toxins in his system which took time to filter out of his liver the vet said.

With the limping and head turning the vet showed where shining a light in his left eye didn't bother him but the right did, so he showed he was blind in one eye which would explain why he wanted to turn his head. It was his right leg that was lame. The vet wouldn't confirm it but it was pretty clear to me our 12 year old dog must have had a stroke. He's had issues with his right leg on and off since including now which tells me they've been recurring. Don't think our poor doggy is much longer for this world.

Do you have ticks in your area? or something similar? Bites by those sorts of insects (they burrow in and cause severe nerve damage and often death if not found) are a common problem here and have the same symptoms.

Their original diagnosis was either a disc compression of the spine or the FCE. We had a Myleogram done, and it showed no spinal problems, so everything is pointing to the FCE. She stayed at the vet overnight, and apparently she's gotten no worse so she'll be coming home tonight. I think we're out of the worst of it, and she's stabilized.

Corwin, the first thing I was shooting for was something like that, or even a thorn in her little paw or something of that nature. Before we get too crazy here lets think of simple things, so they went thru all the simple stuff and unfortunately those were ruled out. We also do not live in a wooded area, prone to ticks, so that's not a very likely thing.

Thanks for all the well wishes and commentary, this has been very tough for us. We dont have any children, so Lu is like our little fur kid! Now we get to bring her home, and start the journey of recovery. She still cannot use one rear leg, so it's going to be a challenge to figure out how to get her going potty and such. She usually just blasts in and out of her doggy door

Fingers crossed and a few prayers going your way Sammy. Hope she recovers fast and all is well. And they ARE part of the family. So hug your wife and the dog and give them my best. Here is one for you as well.

-- Bart and Corwin should just admit that when it gets down to it, I will have the final say.

Well, she's home. Basically, she's pretty much an invalid at this point, she cannot stand at all, her back leg does not function. She also cannot urinate on her own, so we have to express her bladder for her. All is not dark tho, she is showing slight improvement over yesterday, in that she tries to put weight on it, she tries to squat and pee, instead of just dragging her leg around like a piece of meat.

Supposedly this could be temporary, we just have to be patient and work with her and she can make a full recovery. The bladder control could come back in a week or two. It may seem unconscionable (because schnauzers are like Dwarves when it comes to their beards) but we are considering shaving her down, beard and all, just to make things easier and cleaner. Thanks again for all the well wishes.

-- “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

BTW, once she is healthy, you probably want to look into Pet Insurance if you haven't already. We have it through the ASPCA and have been very pleased with it. Had it about 1.5 years and its already paid for itself.